Dynamically Modifying Temperatures At Positions in a Room Having a Plurality Of Positioned People Responsive To Input Requests From Individual Positioned People

ABSTRACT

Controlling the temperature gradient in an enclosed auditorium with positioned people by initially generating, by thermal input, a level selected base temperature plane coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room. Each of the positioned people is enabled to dynamically input a request for a temperature change in the base temperature plane at a position corresponding to the position of the person in the room plane. All of the input requests of positioned people may then be correlated with the base temperature plane to convert the base temperature plane into a base temperature curvature coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room. The thermal input may then be varied responsive to the sensed temperature variations to maintain the base temperature curvature.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

The following copending patent application, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, covers subject matter related to the subject matter of the present patent application Ser. No. 13/676,545 filed on Nov. 14, 2012, entitled: Dynamic Temperature Control For A Room Containing A Group Of People, Lisa M. W. Bradley et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to computer controlled ambient temperatures for enclosed rooms, such as meeting rooms, classrooms, auditoriums and theaters, in which the individual people will remain in a static position, e.g. seated, during a performance or class.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

Over the past generation, the costs of computer, i.e. digital processing resources have been rapidly decreasing due in part to miniaturization of components and continual breakthroughs in digital communications. On the other hand, the costs of energy and attendant energy processing has been increasing due to rising energy demands resulting from worldwide industrialization and the depletion of the energy resources in the world. Also, the disposal and recycling of the by-products of energy consumption has given rise to increasing costs and potential health problems with energy consumption waste products.

Accordingly, technological innovations that use the increasingly available digital processing resources to bring down the costs and effects of energy consumptions are considered to be very desirable.

Temperature control in rooms or auditoriums having substantial numbers of people, so as to insure maximum comfort of individuals, many of whom have specific temperature needs, without affecting other individuals in the auditorium is a goal of temperature control needs. This needs to be done with a minimum of extra energy consumption and with a minimum of extra consumption.

The above cross-referenced application aims to achieve such energy consumption efficiency by sensing the body temperatures of one or more people in the room and storing a set of parameters to be correlated with said sensed body temperatures in determining a selected optimum room temperature.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention covers a broader aspect wherein an Overall temperature gradient is provided in an enclosed room or auditorium through the correlation of temperature change requests from individuals who are positioned, e.g. seated, in the auditorium with other condition factors in the auditorium to provide a temperature gradient coextensive with the plane of the room.

Accordingly, to control the temperature gradient in an enclosed auditorium with positioned, e.g. seated, people is controlled by initially′ generating by thermal input a level selected base temperature plane coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room. In other words, the thermal input may start with a level temperature at a base plane coextensive with the horizontal dimensions of the enclosed auditorium. Positional temperature variations in the base temperature plane may be monitored and sensed and the thermal input may then be varied responsive to the sensed temperature variations so as to maintain the base temperature plane.

Then, the present invention enables each of the positioned people to dynamically input a request for a temperature change in the base temperature plane at a position corresponding to the position of the person in the said room plane.

All of the input requests of positioned people may then be correlated with the base temperature plane to convert the base temperature plane into a base temperature curvature coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room. The thermal input may then be varied responsive to the sensed temperature variations to maintain the base temperature curvature.

The present invention further comprehends enabling the setting of a predetermined range within which temperature may vary from said base curvature, and maintaining said base curvature within such temperature variations.

In accordance with an aspect of this invention, temperature related data profiles of people having potential admission into the room are stored. Then, one or more of the positioned people in said room are identified as having a stored temperature related data profile and, responsive to such identifying, automatically inputting a request for temperature change from said identified person based upon the stored profile of said identified person.

In accordance with a particular aspect of the invention, the sensing for positional variation in the base temperature plane includes sensing the skin temperatures of said positioned people as described in the above cross-referenced patent application Ser. No. 13/676,545, and using such variations as the user input requests for positional temperature changes. Similarly, the skin temperature may be sensed by detecting humidity produced gases surrounding each of said positioned people.

As will be hereinafter described, each of the positioned people may be enabled to manually input a request for temperature change.

The method may be carried out heuristically by updating the stored profiles for one or more of said positioned people based upon manual input requests for temperature change from these positioned people.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings, in conjunction with the accompanying specification, in which:

FIG. 1 is a generalized view of portions of a an illustrative auditorium room; entering the auditorium may be identified, how the people in the room have relatively fixed positions, the distributed thermal input and temperature sensing;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a data processing system including a central processing unit, database, identification apparatus and individual temperature request input for controlling temperature;

FIG. 3 is a visualization of the temperature gradient coextensive with the horizontal plane of an enclosed room of positioned people illustrating the temperature gradient curvature relative to a base plane temperature gradient;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative flowchart describing the setting up of the process of the present invention for providing and maintaining the temperature gradient curvature; and

FIG. 5 is an illustrative run of the process set up in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a generalized view of portions of an illustrative auditorium room. The temperature gradient of the enclosed auditorium room 10 will be maintained and controlled. Room 10, which may be a classroom or theater has an array 11 of seats occupied by individuals 39 the positions of whom are fixed for the period of the performance or lecture. The thermal input for temperature maintenance and control in room 10 is provided through air duct system 23 and is distributed throughout the room through ports 30 of the duct system. The temperature gradient profile over the enclosed room 10 is sensed by illustrative sensor system 16 that will be hereafter described in greater detail. Each of the positioned people 39 is enabled to input a request for a temperature modification relative to the position of the requester in the room. In addition, because the thermal input 31 to an enclosed room is applied through many ports 30, flow through these ports may be uneven. Thus, there must be continual and dynamic temperature monitoring to provide selected temperature gradient over the extent of room 10.

The individual positioned people are enabled to input requests for temperature changes. An individual 20 requesting a change may do so directly through an input terminal at his seat that may be wired to controller 19. Alternatively, the change request may be through the skin temperature monitoring of the individual as described in the above cross-referenced patent application. It should be noted that such skin temperature monitoring may be carried out by detecting humidity produced gases surrounding each of said positioned people.

As described in the above-referenced copending application, where the auditorium organization is such that the people 13 in attendance are repetitive visitors, such as students in a classroom or people holding season subscriptions to event series, e.g. sporting events or opera seasons, database 29 will also have stored identifications of the individual people for entry, seating and monetary aspects, e.g. money owed to the hosts of the events. The people entering may be conventionally identified at entry desk/kiosk 27. At this entry point 27, new visiting people 13, may enter their room temperature preferences. Also, returning visitors may update such profiles to include temperature preferences that may then be stored in a database.

Another way to identify people 13 entering the auditorium would be to place video cameras 26 at the auditorium entrance. Facial recognition applications identify faces by extracting features from an image of the subject's face.

The initial base temperature level for room 10 is correlated with the variety of the above-described individual input requests for positional temperature changes and temperature variations in the rooms distribution system in controller 19 supported by server 28, and if necessary, input from database 29 to control the thermal input system 17.

This correlation is visualized in FIG. 3, which illustrates the temperature gradient coextensive with the horizontal plane 38 of enclosed room 10 of positioned people 39. Some individual positioned people 20 have input requests for temperature changes. The initial thermal in put is directed to providing an initial base temperature plane 37 that is coextensive with the horizontal dimension 38 of the room 10. However, there then are the variants including: uneven mechanical distribution differences in ducts 23 and ports 30 (FIG. 1) and temperature change requests resulting from input from particular positioned people 20. These particular temperature change requests may be manually input or they may be the dynamic result of individual deviations from the stored profiles identified in accordance with the processes of cross-referenced co-pending application Ser. No. 13/676,545.

The result of this correlation is curvature 36 that is coextensive with the horizontal plane 38 of room 10. For purposes of illustration, curvature 36 is illustrated as simple curvature varying from the horizontal plane in only one direction. However, it should be understood that dependent upon the individual input request for temperature change and the distribution limitations in the thermal input system, curvature 36 may have several slopes that vary in more than one direction with respect to base plane temperature gradient 37.

Now, with respect to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of a data processing system including a central processing unit, database, positioned people identification apparatus for controlling temperature. A central processor 20, such as one of the microprocessors, e.g. from System series available from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), is provided and interconnected to various other components by system bus 12. An operating system 41 runs on processor 40, provides control and is used to coordinate the function of the various components of FIG. 2. Operating system 41 may be one of the commercially available operating systems. The programs used in the present invention are moved into and out of the main memory Random Access Memory (RAM) 22. These programming applications are used to implement functions of the present invention. ROM 21 includes the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) that controls the basic computer functions of the server 28. RAM 14, database 29, ROM 21, processor 40 are also interconnected to system bus 12. Entry point 27, is also connected via bus 12 as is video cam 15—for facial recognition in accordance with the implementation of the cross-referenced application—through adapter 30.

As previously described with respect to FIG. 1, controller 19 operates in association with server 28, controls the Heat/Cool device 17 to deliver air to the room at the desired resultant base temperature 36 of FIG. 3. Individual people input temperature requests 43 are input to bus 12 through an appropriate conventional adapter (not shown) and are transmitted to processor 30 and control system 19 via system bus 12.

Thermal image sensing cameras 16 can scan the room and provide a thermal image of the room. Thus, the thermal image of the room may be compared to the desired curvature 36, FIG. 3, for the room and the thermal input varied as necessary to approach this curvature. This is not only achieved by the temperature of the thermal input 17, the ports 30, FIG. 1, may be opened or closed, baffled and directed to provide the desired temperature gradient. With appropriate feedback and dynamic processing of changes in individual input, the temperature curvature 36 may be continually and dynamically changing and the thermal input system continually changing in the direction of the desired resultant base temperature curvature.

FIG. 4 is a general flowchart of a program set up to implement the present invention for providing and maintaining the temperature gradient curvature.

The process is directed to controlling temperature gradients in a room many people in fixed positions, step 50. Provision is made for maintaining a thermal input into the room at a level estimated to provide a selected base temperature level over a plane coextensive with the horizontal dimensions of the enclosed room, step 51. Provision is made for thermal sensing to determine variations in this base temperature at points in the room, step 52. Provision is made for varying the thermal input responsive to the sensed temperature variations so as to maintain the base temperature level, step 53. Provision is made for enabling each positioned person in the room to dynamically input a request for a temperature change in the base temperature level at a position corresponding to the position of the person in the enclosed horizontal plane of the room, step 54. Provision is made for correlating all input requests for temperature changes from positioned people with the base temperature level to convert the base temperature plane into a base temperature coextensive with the enclosed horizontal dimensions of the room, step 55. Provision is made for varying the thermal response to sensed temperature variations so as to maintain the base temperature curvature, step 56.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative run of the process set up in FIG. 4. A thermal input is applied, step 60, and the thermal image of the room sensed, step 61. A determination is made as to whether the initial selected base temperature level has been attained, step 62. If No, the thermal input and sensing is continued until there is a Yes determination in step 62. Then there is appropriate monitoring for individual temperature change requests from positional people in the room grid, step 63. When it is determined, step 64, that Yes there are individual temperature change requests, each request and position is stored, step 65. Then, step 66, when it is determined that the last request has been stored, the positional temperature change requests are correlated with the base temperature level to develop the optimum temperature gradient curvature for the room, step 67. The thermal image of the room is then sensed, step 68, and a determination made, step 69, as to whether the sensed thermal image has attained the desired temperature curvature within acceptable tolerances and limits. If No, the process is returned to step 68 and the thermal image is attained. At such point, a determination is made as to whether the room or auditorium use is over, step 71. If Yes, the process is exited. If No, the process is returned to step 64 wherein the maintenance of the curvature is continued while new temperature change requests are dynamically processed.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.; or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit”, “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable mediums having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (“RAM”), a Read Only Memory (“ROM”), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (“EPROM” or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read only memory (“CD-ROM”), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device.

A computer readable medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including, but not limited to, wireless, wire line, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language, such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ and the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the later scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (“LAN”) or a wide area network (“WAN”), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet, using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagram in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality and operations of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order rioted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer controlled method for dynamically controlling a temperature gradient in an enclosed room containing a plurality of positioned people comprising: generating by thermal input a level selected base temperature plane coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room; sensing positional temperature variations in said base temperature plane; varying said thermal input responsive to said sensed temperature variations to maintain said base temperature plane; enabling each of said positioned people to dynamically input a request for a temperature change in said base temperature plane at a position corresponding to the position of the person in the said room plane; correlating; all of said input requests of said positioned people with said base temperature plane to convert said base temperature plane into a base temperature curvature coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room; and varying said thermal input responsive to said sensed temperature variations to maintain base temperature curvature.
 2. The method of claim 1, further including enabling the setting of a predetermined range within which temperature may vary from said base curvature.
 3. The method of claim 1, further including: storing temperature related data profiles of people having potential admission into said room; identifying at least one of said positioned people in said room, as having a stored temperature related data profile; and responsive to said identifying, automatically inputting a request for temperature change from said identified person based upon the stored profile of said identified person.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said sensing for positional variation in said base temperature plane includes sensing the skin temperatures of said positioned people.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein said skin temperatures are sensed by detecting humidity produced gases surrounding each of said positioned people.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the positioned people are enabled to manually input a request for temperature change.
 7. The method of claim 6 further including updating said stored profile for said at least one of said positioned people based upon manual input requests for temperature change from at least one of said positioned people.
 8. A computer controlled system for dynamically controlling a temperature gradient in an enclosed room containing a plurality of positioned people comprising: a processor; and a computer memory holding computer program instructions that when executed by the processor perform the method comprising: generating by thermal input a level selected base temperature plane coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room; sensing positional temperature variations in said base temperature plane; varying said thermal input responsive to said sensed temperature variations to maintain said base temperature plane; enabling each of said positioned people to dynamically input a request for a temperature change in said base temperature plane at a position corresponding to the position of the person in the said room plane; correlating all of said input requests of said positioned people with said base temperature plane to convert said base temperature plane into a base temperature curvature coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room; and varying said thermal input responsive to said sensed temperature variations to maintain base temperature curvature.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the performed method further includes enabling the setting of a predetermined range within which temperature may vary from said base curvature.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein said performed method further includes: storing temperature related data profiles of people having potential admission into said room; identifying at least one of said positioned people in said room, as having a stored temperature related data profile; and responsive to said identifying, automatically inputting a request for temperature change from said identified person based upon the stored profile of said identified person.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein said sensing for positional variation in said base temperature plane in said performed method includes sensing the skin temperatures of said positioned people.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein said skin temperatures arc sensed in said performed method by detecting humidity produced gases surrounding each of said positioned people.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the positioned people in the performed method are enabled to manually input a request for temperature change.
 14. The system of claim 10, wherein said performed method further includes updating said stored profile for said at least one of said positioned people based upon manual input requests for temperature change from at least one of said positioned people.
 15. A computer usable non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a computer readable program for dynamically controlling a temperature gradient in an enclosed room containing a plurality of positioned people, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to: generate by thermal input a level selected base temperature plane coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room; sense positional temperature variations in said base temperature plane; vary said thermal input responsive to said sensed temperature variations to maintain said base temperature plane; enable each of said positioned people to dynamically input a request for a temperature change in said base temperature plane at a position corresponding to the position of the person in the said room plane; correlate all of said input requests of said positioned people with said base temperature plane to convert said base temperature plane into a base temperature curvature coextensive with the plane of the enclosed room; and vary said thermal input responsive to said sensed temperature variations to maintain base temperature curvature.
 16. The computer usable storage medium of claim 15, wherein said computer program, when executed, causes the computer to further enable the setting of a predetermined range within which temperature may vary from said base curvature.
 17. The computer usable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the computer program, when executed, further causes the computer to: store temperature related data profiles of people having potential admission′ into said room; identify at least one of said positioned people in said room, as having a stored temperature related data profile; and responsive to said identifying, automatically inputting a request for a temperature change from said identified person based upon the stored profile of said identified person.
 18. The computer usable storage medium of claim 15 wherein the computer program, when executed, causes said sensing for positional variation in said base temperature plane to include sensing the skin temperatures of said positioned people.
 19. The computer usable storage medium of claim 18, wherein said computer program, when executed, causes the computer to have skin temperature sensed by detecting humidity produced gases surrounding each of said positioned people.
 20. The computer usable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said computer program, when executed, enables each of the positioned people to manually input a request for temperature change.
 21. The computer usable storage medium of claim 20, wherein said computer program, when executed, further causes the computer to update said stored profile for said at least one of said positioned people based upon manual input requests for temperature changes from at least one of said positioned people. 